1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for the distribution of premium tickets. More particularly, the invention relates to a system whereby producers of spectator events are able to reap a profit from the sale of premium tickets warranting the payment of a premium ticket price. To date, the only ones profiting from the sale of tickets at a premium price are ticket brokers and illegal ticket scalpers, both of whom profit from the effort of others.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For as long as people have sought out entertainment in the form of spectator events, people have competed to obtain the best tickets or, in the event of very popular events, any ticket at all. In most instances, these “premium tickets” are very difficult to obtain. Apart from standing in line, waiting on the telephone or sitting on the Internet for many hours (and hoping you are lucky enough to obtain premium tickets), the only certain way for obtaining premium tickets is either by knowing someone closely associated with the event or paying a substantial premium to a ticket broker.
In recent years ticket brokering or scalping has developed into a billion dollar a year business (and oftentimes illegal business). Ticket brokers generally obtain premium tickets by utilizing privilege and access to people responsible for the distribution of the tickets, purchasing tickets from people with privilege and access to premium tickets and/or paying people to wait in lines or on telephone systems utilized in selling the tickets to desirable spectator events.
The manner in which the ticket distribution business has developed prevents those people most closely associated with the production of the spectator events from making the full profit from the most desirable seats to these sought after spectator events (while ticket brokers do nothing to develop the event but make large sums by reselling premium tickets at an inflated price, which is illegal in some states). Producers of these spectator events limit themselves to the face value of the tickets which they sell, even if certain tickets might have a higher market value than other tickets. For example, event producers might be able to sell front row seats at a premium price despite the fact that the first ten rows of a spectator event are priced at the same level. However, doing this might be a detriment to customer relations and good will, and producers generally will not add a premium to certain tickets despite the potential for added revenues.
As such, those familiar with the production of spectator events and the distribution of tickets appreciate the need for a mechanism by which those most closely associated with the production of a spectator event may make a profit from the market value sale of premium tickets. The present invention provides such a system.